Kashmir crisis, a ‘colossal failure’ of BJP government: Sonia

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir were being “systematically” alienated and antagonised as the current crisis in the troubled-state represented the “colossal failure” of the BJP government.

Gandhi’s remarks that the government’s “divisive agenda” had “undone years of goodwill and progress” in the state follow spike in militant violence and daily stone-pelting protests in the Kashmir Valley.

“The crisis in Jammu and Kashmir has come to represent the colossal failure of this government. We are facing a rise in cross-border terrorism,” she said, addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting here.

The Congress President accused the state and central governments of “insensitive handling” of the situation in Kashmir which was “systematically alienating and antagonising the local population, especially the youths”.

“A large number of jawans (soldiers and troopers) and civilians have lost their lives or have been injured, young people have even been blinded.”

Gandhi said it was imperative for the government to address the crisis and that it “corrects its flawed approach, works in earnest to rebuild and restore normalcy to regain the trust of the people”.

She said a small team of Congress leaders led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been formed to keep abreast of the situation in Kashmir.